Marcus watched from behind as Quella first beat Aeren up, then sobbed on his shoulder, and he understood the situation somewhat. Marcus came closer to Quella and Aeren, seeing they were looking at each other without noticing him.
Marcus started to feel awkward. He always came to Quella's place to admire her beauty, but after seeing her with someone else, he felt pain in his chest, which made Marcus feel even more uncomfortable.
"Ahem, who is he, ma'am?"
Marcus asked politely, not showing his awkwardness on his face. Marcus looks like young and handsome with strong features. His eyes shone like red gems, and his brown hair matched his red gem-like eyes perfectly.
Aeren and Quella turned their heads toward Marcus, who was standing a short distance from them. Quella looked at Marcus and thought about what to say. She considered for a few seconds.
"He is my husband, Aeren."
Marcus heard her, and all his dreams shattered. He had been expecting her to say 'brother,' but Quella shocked him to his core.
Quella looked at Aeren, who was sitting with his back against the wall. She went to him again, took his hand, pulled him up, and supported him on her shoulder, saying, "Aeren, this is Marcus, our vice guild master."
Aeren looked at Marcus and balanced his posture with Quella's help. "Hello, I'm Aeren." Then Aeren looked at Quella and asked, "What is a Vice Guild Master?"
Aeren knew about vice guild masters, but he wanted to confirm if they were thinking along the same lines. He had never known that some frustrated puppets would just create guilds to find their own freedom. Aeren never doubted that if people saw through the world, they wouldn't stop at simple things—they would create, destroy, and do something that made them feel freedom.
Quella looked at Aeren and thought, Was this bastard living on a mountain or something?
Quella stared at Aeren for a few moments and said, "It's a position given by the guild to those who try to protect against disasters—like monsters, evils, dark organizations, and more. They're like police, but they earn their position through strength given by the world, and they protect it."
Quella explained everything briefly so Aeren would ask fewer questions, and she could answer him slowly and understandably. She didn't want to deal with his new wild ideas.
Aeren stared back at her with more questions but didn't ask them. Aeren, Marcus, and Quella entered the mansion. All three sat on the couch, with Marcus staring at Aeren, who was sitting beside Quella.
Marcus looked at both of them for a few minutes and thought, Quella's husband died in the past, and some people even saw his funeral. So how is he still alive? Or is Aeren just her scapegoat?
"What is your profession, Mr. Aeren?"
Aeren looked at Marcus and was silent for a few moments. "I was a doctor. Right now, I'm doing nothing."
Marcus stared at him and thought, I knew it. She's just using him as a scapegoat.
Marcus smiled, feeling slightly relieved, and didn't ask Aeren any more questions. The three of them went silent, and Aeren looked at Quella, but her head was turned away from him. Aeren looked at the food on the table and remembered something.
Aeren had rarely eaten anything during those forty years and hadn't slept for 40 years at all. Now, Aeren decided when he wanted to sleep and when he wanted to eat—not his instincts.
Ding! Ding!
The doorbell rang, breaking the silence, and Quella said loudly, "Coming!"
She went to the door and opened it. Two people came inside the mansion. Marcus stood up after seeing both of them and went to greet them. Aeren silently watched.
Aeren saw a young man accompanied by a young woman. He stared at the woman and stood up, walking toward her. But Aeren was stopped by Quella.
"What are you doing, Aeren?"
Aeren looked at Quella, who was glaring at him, her eyes telling him that if he went any closer to the woman, he would regret it.
Aeren looked at her again and whispered, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "Is she even human?"
Everyone heard Aeren and fell silent. The young man stepped forward and punched Aeren. Quella had already beaten him badly, and now this punch almost knocked him unconscious.
Quella saw this and looked at the young man, shouting, "Why did you hit him, Otis?"
Otis looked at Quella, feeling something was wrong. She cared too much about this man, and this man looked odd and didn't feel right. He couldn't sense anything about him.
Otis continued staring at Aeren on the ground, who already looked beaten up before he hit him.
So Otis looked at Quella and asked, "Who is he, Mom?"
Quella turned to Otis, feeling angry at her own child. She stared at him, wanting to beat him but controlling herself.
"He is your father. You just met your father, and you hit him. Is this how I taught you to behave?"
Everyone was shocked by the revelation. Marcus felt dizzy, his brain struggling to process this information. The young woman was also shocked and stared at Aeren, while Otis kept his eyes on Aeren, who was being tended to by his mother.
Otis continued looking at Aeren, not understanding the situation. He saw Aeren's black eyes and raised his voice, "But Mom, you said he had eyes like mine, but his eyes have color."
Quella stared at Aeren's eyes for a few seconds and signaled him through her eyes to show his real eyes. Aeren stared at Quella and said, "Didn't I tell you, Quella? Our fake relationship can be seen by others, but you still—"
Quella slapped Aeren on his cheek before he could finish his sentence. He thought, So this is the slavery of freedom. Man, it hurts one's reputation.
"Show them," Quella glared at Aeren and said loudly.
Aeren changed his eye color and showed them. The young woman started vomiting just from seeing Aeren's eyes. Quella turned back and saw the young woman, Saira, who was vomiting, then turned back to Aeren. She shouted:
"What did you do, Aeren? She is my daughter-in-law!"
Aeren stared at the Saira and didn't think much about it. She felt odd, but he understood why she felt odd.
"I did nothing. She entered my consciousness without my permission. It's her own fault."
Quella glared but understood his meaning and thought, How is she even still alive? Did Aeren spare her? I've been in his consciousness before, and I know no one can survive in Aeren's consciousness, but I was protected by Aeren, so I came back safely. Sigh...
Aeren stared at the young woman and thought, There are too many frustrated puppets who exist and directly create new species. She can give birth even though she is AI. That means she's an AI-human hybrid species.
If I think about it, humans and AI-humans had relationships and made a child. So does that mean a child with infinite intelligence and infinite imagination? That means he would be born with GOD-like qualities.
How many more frustrated puppets exist who create something that would make even GOD ashamed and say, 'You don't know creation at all.'
Aeren didn't stand up from the ground and continued watching the Saira vomit.